Intentions to Marry, 1920 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840493, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1920 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1920f contains pages 2345-2956, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2509

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar S. Tyson

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

21 February 1920

Alfred John Harry Weir
Florence Emma Wells

Alfred John Harry Weir
Florence Emma Wells
💍 1920/3818

Bachelor
Spinster

Cab-man
Domestic Duties

24
24

Nelson
Nelson

2 years
24 years

St Johns Methodist Church Nelson

2639

21 February 1920

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	21 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Harry Weir	Florence Emma Wells
	💍 1920/3818
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cab-man	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Methodist Church Nelson
Folio	2639
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

6 March 1920

Ernest Sandys Warwick
Victoria Amelia Rosa Thomas

Ernest Sandys Merrick
Nestonia Amelia Rees Thomas
💍 1920/3819

Bachelor
Widow 6 April 1911

Blacksmith
House

21
31

Nelson
Nelson

21 years
10 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

2640

6 March 1920

S. Tyson, Registrar

No	22
Date of Notice	6 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Sandys Warwick	Victoria Amelia Rosa Thomas
BDM Match (80%)	Ernest Sandys Merrick	Nestonia Amelia Rees Thomas
	💍 1920/3819
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 6 April 1911
Profession	Blacksmith	House
Age	21	31
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	21 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	2640
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1920
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar

6 March 1920

William Adam Motion
Amelia Constance Wildman

William Adam Motion
Amelia Constance Wildman
💍 1920/3820

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Milliner

30
30

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
20 years

All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

2641

6 March 1920

Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

No	23
Date of Notice	6 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Adam Motion	Amelia Constance Wildman
	💍 1920/3820
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Milliner
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	2641
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

9 March 1920

Henry Rawson Spittal
Grace Anna Ward

Henry Rawson Spittal
Grace Aroa Ward
💍 1920/3821

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 1920 9 March

Labourer
Domestic duties

37
35

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
6 years

dwelling of Mrs Ellen Fleming Halifax Street, Nelson

2642

9 March 1920

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	9 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Rawson Spittal	Grace Anna Ward
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Rawson Spittal	Grace Aroa Ward
	💍 1920/3821
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 1920 9 March
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	37	35
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	6 years
Marriage Place	dwelling of Mrs Ellen Fleming Halifax Street, Nelson
Folio	2642
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

15 March 1920

Francis Edward Tonkins
Florence Elizabeth Lyford

Francis Edward Tomkins
Florence Elizabeth Lyford
💍 1920/3822

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Employee
Domestic duties

52
32

Nelson
Nelson

4 years
32 years

Baptist Church Bridge Street, Nelson

2643

15 March 1920

Rev. John Laird, Baptist

No	25
Date of Notice	15 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Edward Tonkins	Florence Elizabeth Lyford
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Edward Tomkins	Florence Elizabeth Lyford
	💍 1920/3822
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Employee	Domestic duties
Age	52	32
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Bridge Street, Nelson
Folio	2643
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Laird, Baptist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).